Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital media assets and, more particularly, to network-based purchase of sets of digital media assets.
Description of the Related Art
Today, it is common for users to access on-line media repositories to purchase songs or tracks on-line. Recently, on-line media repositories have supported videos, such as movies or television shows. The typical interaction with an on-line media repository is that a user will browse the on-line media repository, select one or more media items to be purchased or otherwise acquired, and then receive electronic delivery of the items over a network. One example of an on-line media repository is an on-line media store, such as the iTunes Music Server® provided by Apple Inc.
Often, a user purchases an individual track or song from an on-line media repository. In many cases the individual track or song will be associated with an album. The album includes a number of different tracks or songs, some or all of which can be purchased individually. For example, a user may purchase one or two songs individually as opposed to purchase of the album. As a result, the user pays a lower cost than the cost of the album but only acquires a portion of the album. The user can thereafter continue to buy other individual tracks or songs from the album to acquire some or all of the remaining tracks or songs of the album. Alternatively, the user could buy the album as a set. However, on buying the album, the user would be charged for the cost of the entire album, even though the user might have previously purchased one or more tracks from the album. As a result, in this conventional scenario, users tend not to purchase albums after they have purchased one or more individual tracks from an album.
An album is a set of media items. The media items are usually tracks of audio recordings (i.e., songs). Upon purchase of an album, conventionally, all of the tracks of the album are downloaded to the user. To the extent that the user has previously purchased certain of the tracks from the album, the user not only pays for some tracks it does not need, but also computing and network resources are wasted when the unneeded tracks are sent and received over the network to the user.
Thus, there is a need for improved approaches to facilitate a user's acquisition of sets of media items.